Conference Agenda

Link Convenors' Meeting 1

There are growing concerns related to child and youth physical activity and health within and beyond the UK. Therefore providing opportunities for children and young people to learn about health is considered a global health priority (World Health Organisation, 2018). Schools, and particularly Physical Education (PE), have been identified as an appropriate context within which to educate children about health (Hooper, Harris and Cale, 2022) and the area is a component of the PE curriculum in most English speaking countries. This includes, for example, teaching children how to be healthy, developing positive associations with being physically active, and encouraging and developing pupils’ confidence to continue to be physically active outside of PE (Cale and Harris, 2009). Within the current National Curriculum for Physical Education (NCPE) in England, health features in the overarching ‘purpose of study’ and ‘ensuring that all pupils: lead healthy, active lives’ represents one of the four aims for the subject (Department for Education, 2013).

Despite the above, researchers within the field have highlighted that the teaching of health within PE has a narrow focus with some key aspects such as ‘health benefits’ and ‘activity promotion’ being afforded less attention (Harris, 2009). It has been contested that although teachers adopt a ‘fitness for life’ philosophy (promoting physical activity to retain and enhance health), teachers generally enact a ‘fitness for performance’ philosophy in practice, teaching health in reductive, performance focused ways and emphasising measurable outcomes (Harris and Leggett, 2015; Stirrup and Damant, 2022). One such example is the practice of fitness testing.

Fitness testing has been identified as one of the most common practices to teach about health within PE across the globe (O’Keeffe, MacDonncha and Donnelly, 2020; Alfrey and Landi, 2023). Yet, it has also been one of the most fiercely debated topics within the field. Proponents advocate various educational purposes for testing whilst others contest the practice can lack meaning and be a negative, embarrassing, and demotivating experience for some pupils.

Good practice recommendations for physical educators regarding how to teach in, through and about fitness testing, to enhance its educational experience for pupils have been offered for some time (recent examples include those by Phillips, Marttinen and Mercier, 2017; Huhtiniemi et al., 2021). Although recommendations differ, they are largely underpinned by the same broad principles. For example, they recommend deemphasising the public nature of fitness testing, avoiding comparison and competition and preparing and encouraging pupils to independently participate in physical activity outside of school. Whilst welcomed, the extent to which such recommendations are reaching teachers and influencing fitness testing practice is unclear, with some researchers highlighting a gap between the recommendations and practice (Mercier, Phillips and Silverman 2016; Cale, Harris and Chen, 2014).

Considering the reported widespread prevalence of fitness testing as a PE-for-health practice, yet the long standing concerns regarding its educational purpose, and the apparent gap between recommendations and practice, an exploration of current thinking and practice surrounding fitness testing is needed. This study therefore aimed to i) determine the prevalence of fitness testing; and ii) explore teachers’ experiences and attitudes of the practice. To the authors’ knowledge, a study of this nature has not been conducted in the UK before.

Introduction

High-stakes fitness testing has become a dominant form of assessment used in China that is administered to young people in schools (Chen & Brown, 2013). These assessments are used to evaluate teachers’ effectiveness (Supovitz 2009), motivate students (Göloglu Demir & Kaplan Keles, 2021), and carry considerable weight on secondary and university admissions (Chen & Brown, 2013). In China, there are two ‘high-stakes’ assessments that carry important consequences for young people. One of the tests, the Gaokao, is a senior high school assessment that counts towards university admission. The focus of this paper is on the Zhongkao, an assessment for junior high school students whereby the results are used to inform admission decisions for entry into senior high school (Wu, 2015). Thus, the use of ‘high-stakes’ assessments is not a ‘neutral’ tool to simply measure student learning (Farvis and Hay 2020) but rather is a social and political process that has material consequences for many young people’s lives (Ryan 2002).

As part of the Zhongkao, the physical education section is comprised of a physical fitness test. Physical fitness tests are a polemical issue within physical education (e.g., Alfrey & Gard, 2019). On the one hand, some have argued that fitness testing has some benefits including an association with increased motivation amongst young people (Jaakkola et al. 2016; Simonton, Mercier, and Garn 2019). On the other hand, there has been growing body of evidence illustrating not so positive experiences with fitness testing. This includes research on motivation (Jaakkola et al. 2016) and attitudes (Goudas, Biddle, and Fox 1994), young people more broadly (Hopple and Graham 1995; Wrench and Garrett 2008), young women (O’Keeffe, MacDonncha, and Donnelly 2021), as well as Black, Latinx and LGBTQ young people (Safron & Landi, 2022). Within this debate, there is an overarching belief that has pervaded the physical education research community that it is ‘not the test’ that is bad, but rather the approach to teaching the test (Silverman et al., 2009).

WithinChinese culture,high value is placed on assessment and this increases pressure on young people, parents, teachers and schools (Chen and Brown 2013; Wu 2015). Within physical education (and fitness testing), such competitive practices have been shown to produce negative experiences amongst young people in schools (Aggerholm, Standal, and Hordvik 2018). We believe China is an interesting place to examine the ‘approach’ debate because high-stakes fitness testing is mandated for teachers and young people to follow. Further, there is a lack of research with Chinese young people about their fitness testing experiences. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore Chinese young people’s experiences of the physical education component of the Zhongkao. The specific research questions that informed this research were:

(1) What are Chinese young persons’ reflective perceptions of the physical education assessment in the Zhongkao?

(2) What were the Chinese young persons’ reflective experiences of participating in the physical education assessment in the Zhongkao?

Paradigm

The paper is grounded in a pragmatist paradigm of research (Morgan, 2014). The pragmatist paradigm informs its background, methods and interpretation of the results drawing on previous insights from an epistemic community (Lawson, 2009). As such, this paper was informed not by an overarching theory, but rather the contextual factors and disciplinary traditions within physical education research. Yet, we were reflexive in our own thinking process in order to be critical of the dominant and discursive power structures within physical education research so we did not un-wittingly reproduce the inequities caused by epistemic dominance within the field (Landi, 2023).

This paper summarises the findings of a twelve-month research project commissioned by British University and Colleges Sport (BUCS) to explore race and equality among non-white student-athletes, participants in university recreational physical activity, and staff leading, coaching, and managing university sport.

The experience of racism continues across all areas of peoples’ lives and its consequences are destructive. Inequalities attributable to racial identity are consistently reported across key social intuitions, not least education. Debate concerning race has consistently challenged ‘post-race’ narratives that rationalise racism down to individual prejudices and explains racial inequalities through poor individual decision-making (Hylton, 2005, 2021). Post-race narratives are often set into ideas of societal meritocracy that believe everyone has equal access to resources and influence, and individual talent and hard work is equally rewarded (Bimper, 2017). In university sport, the educational achievements, athleticism and professionalism of Black student-athletes are viewed through ostensibly neutral and meritocratic lenses rather than considering institutional inequalities (Bimper, 2017; Singer, 2005). Much of this research on student-athletes analyses US institutions; in the UK, recent examination of university sport in regard to LGBTQ+ inclusion notes ‘tokenistic’ policies within a culture of homophobia and misogyny (Phipps, 2020).

Two research questions were posed:

1. What are the experiences of non-white students and staff of university sport?
2. How are the sport and physical activity experiences of non-white students considered strategically and operationally by universities?

This paper reports on analysis and conclusions relating to the first research question, specifically experiences of university sport among non-white students. Non-white was chosen as a term to focus attention upon the voices of those who do not share the racial majority of those who lead, coach, and participate in university sport (Long and Hylton, 2022).

The data were approached from a Critical Race Theory and Intersectional perspective. CRT promotes seeing race and racism as central features of society; critiques colour-blind approaches; and centres marginalised voices (Hylton, 2005; Solorzano and Yosso, 2001). People’s experiences are spread across different contexts and are experienced through different intersecting identities including gender, class, race, and ethnicity (Collins, 1986). This spread also means that it is not easy for participants to compartmentalise their lives before, during and beyond university. Deep explorations of personal experiences and looking to recruit participants who may not respond to a survey became key requirements of the research methodology.

Introduction

The university-led Global Design Challenge for Sport and Physical Activity (GDC) was founded by author in April 2020 and is now entering its fourth year. It enjoys UNESCO patronage. The GDC is a global, online innovation challenge, designed initially in response to the pandemic's impact on sport and physical activity. The challenge set is fully informed by a desk study, which surfaced the most relevant challenges facing sport and physical activity (O’Neill et al, 2021). The GDC crowdsources ideas which hack this challenge, using design thinking for incubation and impact.

The GDC vision is a world where everyone has the right to enjoy the health and wellbeing benefits of being physically active across their lifespan. The GDC mission is to support the creation and development of new innovative ideas from around the world that enable people of all ages and abilities to lead active healthy lives. In particular, the GDC strives to promote and support the Kazan Action Plan 2017 which calls out seven United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which pertain to physical education, physical activity and sport. The GDC goals are:

Goal 1: To support innovation in sport and physical activity;

Goal 2: To support the achievement of the sustainable development goals through life-long engagement in sport and physical activity;

Goal 3: To promote evidence-based solutions and sustainable behavioral change in respect of engagement in sport and physical activity;

Goal 4: To establish a global competition and platform for new ideas in sport and physical activity to emerge;

Goal 5: To support the progression, piloting, and scaling of new ideas in sport and physical activity that can be tailored to local contexts;

Goal 6: To bring individuals and organisations together globally to create sustainable engagement in physical activity throughout life;

Goal 7: To close the gap between policy and grassroots in sport and physical activity;

Goal 8: To promote and teach design thinking as a means of addressing complex global problems.

The underpinning theoretical framework for the GDC leans on the following three interconnected pillars: A Human-Centred Approach to Innovation (Brown, 2008); The paradigm of design thinking (Laursen & Tollestrup, 2018); and The Social Innovation Ecosystem Model (Audretsch, Eichler & Schwarz 2022, p.234 adapted from Isenberg, 2011).

Our purpose was, in an analogy with Young’s (1980) ‘throwing like a girl’, to investigate what it means to learn ‘to fight like a girl’ and if there is a feminine fighting style evident among women karate elite athletes. We adopt a critical feminist position, taking inspiration from the work of Iris Marion Young on the feminine within physical pursuits such as throwing or fighting like a girl, and Nyberg’s contributions to the development of learning theories in physical education and sport.

Karate, organized by weight categories, has room for different body types. Starting with Young’s (1980, 144) writing, ‘one can nevertheless sensibly speak of a general feminine style of body behaviour and movement’, we described main features for each female weight. Such description allowed the observation of general characteristics of the fighting styles. We structured findings in first, ‘fighting like a girl’, presenting the analysis of the criteria, and second, ‘specificities of girls’ embodied knowing in movement’, focusing on movement capability and embodied learning as background for the learning and development of fighting styles (Nyberg 2015; 2021).

Regarding the analysed criteria, Use of space, expansive male movements, and restricted female movements make the first set trying to say that women fighters present inferior performance in comparison to men fighters. The comparisons are constant. We, however, neither agree with the inferiority that mainly karateka men attribute to women, nor consider the comparison itself worthwhile. Social burdens count for female and male resourcefulness, the former being given a position of object in a wide range of environments, and the latter of subject. Considering the normative context of karate, women could keep a position of self-consciousness about their bodies and ways to move diminishing their possibilities for performance, while men could build their embodied awareness relatively more easily (Mason 2018; Standal and Bratten 2021).

A second set of criteria Less risk taking, less aggressive, and difficulty in complex time-gesture coordination can be summarised to a matter of perspective. This is so that often athletes and coaches present opposite views about same issues. For example, women athletes consider themselves to be aggressive, while for coaches that should be highly improved.

Less projection work, sweeps, melee work was the third set of criteria, since women are considered by coaches to present a natural inability to perform these complex movements. Traditional martial pedagogy (Cynarsky, Obodynsk, and Zeng 2012) proposes the achievement of an elevated moral level through the development of the character of practitioners (Funakoshi 2003). However, in the gender binary organization followed by this pedagogy, men and women correspond to different places in terms of morality. Once the environment is built on hierarchy and a stream of tradition that is passed on, teachings received are going to be retransmitted with priority over formal pedagogy. Then, the common position given to women in the field, that of inability to perform some movements is spread and passed on, and (often) embodied by the women.

A fourth set of criteria, tactical work, more careful and assertive, do the basics necessary to score, showed different perspectives. Coaches tend to consider that women ‘think too much’ to carry out good tactical work, and athletes understand they are very attentive and this is a good thing. This presents itself as part of social-karateka construction, building women fighters normatively following the traditional martial pedagogy, but expecting them to perform non-normatively. It seems to be of fundamental importance to achieve embodied self-knowledge (Standal and Bratten 2021) in order to develop movement capability (Nyberg 2015) and be sure of the person’s own potentialities in a mixture of resisting and giving in.

Sports, with its strong network of volunteer-based clubs, is often highlighted as a possible way of including newcomers in a new society (Spaaij et al., 2019). Participation in sports can, in addition to physical training, create a sense of belonging and an insight into the new society for newcomers (Walseth, 2008). However, studies point out that clubs and leaders generally require more intercultural knowledge and a readiness to understand the different cultural backgrounds of participants (Spaaij et al., 2019). This is in line with other studies (Dowling, 2020; Hertting & Karlefors, 2021; Flensner et al., 2020), that question voluntary sports clubs’ ability to meet culturally diverse participants. Previous research on female immigrants as participants in sport exists (e.g., Painter & Price, 2021). However, more research needs to focus on female leadership (e.g., Dadswell et al.,2022), forming the rationale for the present research project investigating this matter from different perspectives.

In Sweden, almost 70% of children and youth participate in sports clubs. Differences in representation do, however, exist where girls with immigrant backgrounds are the least represented group. This difference is also reflected in leadership, where representation of gender is skewed and even more skewed the higher up in the leadership structure. In general, more men than women are leaders, and the least represented group in leadership is women with immigrant backgrounds (Fundberg, 2017). To promote inclusion in sports and increase gender equality, representation needs to be addressed and prioritized to a greater extent. One way forward is to strengthen and increase diversity in leadership. An increased number of female leaders with immigrant backgrounds have the potential to create leadership role models who appeal to one of the most underrepresented groups of members in sport, that is girls and women with immigrant backgrounds.

Aim and objectives

By investigating female immigrants’ experiences of their path to participation and leadership in sports, the aim of the study is to explore experiences and turning points that have enabled women with immigrant backgrounds to enter and develop leadership in Swedish sports.

Theoretical framework

This study is based on the assumptions of so-called turning points; unforeseen events of different character that might influence immigrant women's life and possible career development (Hodkinson & Sparkes, 1997). Turning points can be forced, self-initiated, or structural (Hodkinson & Sparkes, 1997), with the potential to offer immigrant women opportunities to be included in contexts supporting inclusion in sports and a new society. Turnings points might be life events that cannot be predicted. To study the role of career development and turning points in immigrant women’s sports leadership, Hodkinson and Sparkes (1997) model of career paths is used. The model is useful since it is argued to avoid two possible pitfalls: social determinism and considering immigrant women as free agents. The model, thus, considers the tension between individuals' unequal life chances connected with and structured by gender, class, and ethnicity, and assumptions about the individual's free choice in relation to market forces. The model includes three basic concepts: horizons for action, turning points, and routines. The concepts are closely linked to each other and to learning, and when a decision is made within a turning point, the person's habitus is changed (Hodkinson & Sparkes, 1997).

Research and policy statements argue that school Health and Physical Education (HPE) can make a unique contribution to the physical, cognitive, emotional and social development of young people (Opstoel et al., 2020; UNESCO, 2015). It can also provide opportunities for young people to develop the knowledge and skills needed to navigate and respond to the inequities and precarity (Kirk, 2020) that can negatively impact health, and that have been amplified in a COVID-19 era. Despite the aforementioned potential of HPE, it does not always provide equitable opportunities for all students, and often excludes on the basis of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion and social class (e.g., Gerdin & Larsson, 2018; Landi, 2019; Mooney & Gerdin, 2019; Walseth, 2015). Due to a range of socio-historical, political and contextual factors, many HPE teachers have not had the opportunity to develop the necessary pedagogical knowledge and skills to teach in inclusive and socially just ways (Gerdin et al., 2018; 2019). Exacerbating this challenge is the limited scholarship focusing on empirically-based, social justice pedagogies in HPE, particularly as informed by teacher and student perspectives.

This proposed symposium will report on the ongoing work of the EDUHEALTH 2.0 project. This project builds on the findings and outcomes of the previous EDUHEALTH project that called on HPE teacher observations and post observation critical incident interviews (Philpot et al, 2020), and identified how broader curricular and school policy interact to facilitate the enactment of social justice pedagogies in HPE. These pedagogies include building goodrelationships, teaching for social cohesion and explicitly teaching about and acting on social inequities (Gerdin et al., 2020). The aim of EDUHEALTH 2.0, which brings together researchers from Sweden, Norway, Spain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, is to identify, compare, co-design and support the enactment of social justice pedagogies in HPE that promote equitable learning experiences and outcomes. Data will be collected in these countries by; (i) drawing on critical incident technique methodology to observe and identify teaching practices that promote social justice and explore the teachers’ and students’ experiences of these practices; and (ii) doing participatory action-research together with teachers and students in developing social justice pedagogies for HPE practice.

The strength of this research project lies in being able to examine and curate examples of HPE practices across different countries and collectively learn more about social justice pedagogies in practice. Our conception of social justice pedagogies is built on Wright’s (2004) call for teaching practices that assist ‘students to examine and challenge the status quo, the dominant constructions of reality and the power relations that produce inequities, in ways that can lead to advocacy and community action’ (p. 7). That is, social justice pedagogies are about identifying inequalities and empowering individuals and groups to take social action to achieve change (Freire, 1970). Ultimately, the goal of this research project is to inform educational policy, curriculum makers, HPE teacher education and the further development of social justice pedagogies that support HPE teachers in practice.

The session will begin with a brief introduction to the symposium and overview of the project rationale and methodology. This overview will be followed by four separate presentations from four of the participating countries in the EDUHEALTH 2.0 project. Each country will present initial findings from the work has been done to date within their context. At the conclusion of the fourth presentation we will present the future direction and intended goals of the project. Finally, a discussant will reflect on the work presented and the nature of the project before opening the floor to the audience for the final 15 minutes of the symposium.

In Sweden, the school subject Physical Education and Health (PEH) is understood as part of public health policy. Having skills and knowledge related to physical activity and health is described as an asset for both the individual and society (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2011). Despite new curricula in Sweden calling for teachers to address equity (Skolverket [Swedish National Agency for Education], 2011), PEH teachers still have problems catering to the needs of all their pupils (Ekberg, 2016; Larsson et al., 2018) with achievement and higher grades in PEH often being linked to active participation in sport clubs (Svennberg, 2017). Pupils who do not participate in organized sport in their leisure time experience feelings of anxiety and inability (Ekberg, 2016). The PEH teachers themselves tend to focus more on making the pupils interested in and motivated to do (more) physical activity and sport rather than health (Schenker, 2018). Further, higher grades are generally attained by boys with a Swedish background and who have well-educated parents (Svennberg & Högberg, 2018). In this paper we will present some our initial findings from an ongoing critical participatory action-research (CPAR) project at two different upper-secondary schools in Sweden. The schools and teachers involved in the study was selected through purposive sampling (Bryman 2016) located in two different cities in southern Sweden. The participants involve the entire PEH departments at these schools with a total of 14 teachers with the study forming part of their professional development. The first cycle of the CPAR will run from June 2022 – June 2023. Data from the action-research with teachers will be analysed through thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2013) and consistent with principles of teaching for equity and social justice (Freire, 1970). Data will more specifically be analysed through a six-phase thematic analysis approach that will consist of familiarisation with data, initial and advanced coding, identifying and naming themes and reporting findings (Braun & Clarke, 2013). The initial themes will report on the teachers’ perceptions of social justice, the identification of social justice issues in their teaching practice and their efforts to enact social justice pedagogies. The paper concludes with some reflections on the challenges of doing CPAR with PEH teachers and bringing about social change.

Braun, B., & Clarke, V. (2013). Successful Qualitative Research: A Practical Guide for Beginners. London: Sage. Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods. Oxford University Press. Ekberg, J.E. (2016). What knowledge appears as valid in the subject of Physical Education and Health? A study of the subject on three levels in year 9 in Sweden. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 21(3), 249–268. Freire, P. (1970). Cultural Action for Freedom. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review. Larsson, L., Linnér, S., & Schenker, K. (2018). The doxa of physical education teacher education – set in stone? European Physical Education Review, 24(1), 114–130. Schenker. K. (2018). Health(y) education in health and physical education. Sport, Education and Society, 23(3), 229–243.

In Norway, a new National curriculum for all school subjects was implemented from 2020 (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2019). According to the overall curriculum aims, HPE shall contribute with insight into cultural diversity, foster respect for others, promote democracy and give equal opportunity for all. Students are expected to a greater extent to explore their own identity and movement capabilities. The curriculum also includes activities from the indigenous Sámi culture in Norway (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2019). While analysing the former HPE curriculum in Norway, Dowling and Flintoff (2018) pointed to how competence aims that mirrors ‘Nordic movement culture’ with winter-activities and ‘friluftsliv’ can lead to practices that marginalize non-white movement cultures and students from minority backgrounds. A review of ‘friluftsliv’ as part of HPE indicates that this can be a real case in Norway (Abelsen & Leirhaug, 2017). Despite that the new HPE curriculum can be said to invite social justice pedagogies (Gerdin et al., 2022), research indicates challenges with gender and disabilities, as well as it seems to be the sports-active students that get the higher grades and the most of the benefits of HPE (Erdvik et al. 2019; Säfvenbom et al., 2015). This presentation is based on qualitative in-depth interviews with six HPE teachers and seven students from three upper secondary schools. The interviews were conducted as part of preparing a critical participatory action-research (CPAR) within the schools (Kemmis et al., 2014). The schools were selected through purposive sampling (Bryman 2016). The interviews were particularly interested in the local understandings and enactments of social justice pedagogies, as well as possible challenges in the HPE context of teaching for equity and social justice (Freire, 1970). The analysis of both teacher data and student data followed a six-phase reflexive thematic analysis approach inspired by Braun and Clarke (2021). The findings show different understandings and perceptions of social justice, both as a general concept and in concrete examples from their HPE experiences. While teachers say they make effort to create dialog and inclusive practices in their teaching, the students do not experience and understand this the same way. In addition, the initial themes include assessment in HPE as controversial, teacher not listening in ‘the so-called dialog’, and suggest that HPE still struggle with inequities between girls and boys. We conclude by sharing some reflections on how we will use these findings in going forward, doing CPAR with HPE teachers as co-constructers of knowledge.

Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2021). Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide. Sage. Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods. Oxford University Press. Dowling, F. & Flintoff, A. (2018). A whitewashed curriculum? The construction of race in contemporary PE curriculum policy. Sport, Education and Society, 23(1), 1–13, DOI: 10.1080/13573322.2015.1122584 Erdvik, I. B., Haugen, T., Ivarsson, A., & Säfvenbom, R. (2019). Development of basic psychological need satisfaction in physical education: Effects of a two-year PE programme. Journal for Research in Arts and Sports Education, 3(2). Freire, P. (1970). Cultural Action for Freedom. Harvard Educational Review. Gerdin, G., Smith, W., Philpot, R., Schenker, K., Moen, K. M., Linnér, S., Westlie, K. & Larsson, L. (2022). Social Justice Pedagogies in Health and Physical Education. Routledge. Kemmis, S., Mctaggart, R. & Nixon, R. (2014). The Action Research Planner: Doing Critical Participatory Action Research. Springer. Säfvenbom, R., Haugen, T. & Bulie, M. (2015). Attitudes toward and motivation for PE. Who collects the benefits of the subject? Sport, Education and Society 23(3) 629–646. Utdanningsdirektoratet (2019). Curriculum in Physical education (KRO01 05) [Official English translation].

At all levels of education, the concept of social justice and what it is that teachers can do in the name of teaching for, and about social justice is both ubiquitous and simultaneously poorly understood. If social justice is an aspiration of education (Freire, 1970), the understandings of what it is take on importance as it will inevitably inform the pedagogical work of teachers. This presentation draws on data from an ongoing international collaborative study that explores teaching for social justice in the subject of Health and Physical Education (HPE). In this presentation, we report on New Zealand Health and Physical Education teachers’ perceptions of social justice and social justice pedagogies Participants were 20 secondary school HPE teachers from New Zealand, a country where social justice is an espoused orientation of national health and Physical Education curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007). Participants were selected through purposive sampling (Denzin & Lincoln, 20012), with a requirement to be fully registered secondary school HPE teachers with at least three years teaching experience, who were interested in sharing their perspectives on social justice. Data were collected though individual semi structured online interviews and transcribed for analysis. Data were analysed through a six-phase thematic analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2017). Although the participants teachers were not able to articulate a clear understanding of social justice, they provide insights into how issues of inclusion and equity can/are addressed in everyday HPE practice. In this presentation we report three themes. The first theme, ‘Social justice – good question,’ highlights that social justice is not a concept that is commonly used in HPE departments. The HPE teachers suggest that social justice is important but the meaning of the concept is unclear. The second theme ‘ Equity and Inclusion’ highlights the most common understanding of social justice. The final theme, ‘Acting on difference’ conveys how teachers endeavour to teach for equity and inclusion in their classrooms. We discuss these findings through Nancy Fraser’s (2014) theories of justice. The discussion highlights how the pedagogies of HPE teachers can contribution to recognition, redistribution and representation.

Denzin, N.K. and Lincoln, Y. S (2012). Strategies of qualitative inquiry. Boston: Sage. Clarke, V. & Braun, V. (2017) Thematic analysis, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 12:3, 297-298, DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2016.1262613 Fraser, N. (2014). Justice interruptus: Critical reflections on the" postsocialist" condition. Routledge. Freire, P. (1970). Cultural Action for Freedom. Harvard Educational Review. Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Situated within the ‘big tent’ of critical scholarship (Lather, 1998), the pursuit of social justice agenda’s in education broadly, and HPE specifically, have been relatively modest in practice, despite an extensive (and growing) body of work advocating these laudable aims (Hickey et al., 2019). Substantial scholarship has identified the role of initial teacher education (ITE) in ‘subverting the conditions and practices that serve to privilege, albeit unwittingly, individuals who project particular behaviours and dispositions over those that do not’ (Hickey & Mooney, 2019, p. 148). In short, it appears that despite the introduction of a national curriculum underpinned by social justice and emancipatory aims in HPE a decade ago (Macdonald, 2013) and a policy imperative instantiated through national teacher standards to practise in socially inclusive ways, examples of ways in which various practices in HPE contribute and reproduce injustices for many young people continue to be reported. Understanding the conditions that support dispositional interrogations that manifest in pedagogical practices becomes key to achieving changes to teacher’s practices (Hickey et al., 2019). While it seems blatantly obvious that ITE has a role to play in achieving this, the manifestation of broader political discourses and agendas at both the federal level, with the capability levers and responsibility of funding Higher Education and ITE providers, and at the local state level with the responsibility for funding schools and the teacher workforce, constrains what can be achieved across various levels of the Australian education system. Fernandez-Balboa (2017) argues that key here is a redirect from the social to the personal – to understand more about what enables or constrains the conditions of pedagogical practice, we need contemporary insights into the personal drivers (biographical, social and political) of certain practices. Against a backdrop of global and local political crises, financial and economic collapse, pandemics, climate change and social conflict, relatively little is known about the ways in which teacher’s personal politics shape constructions of social justice and their pedagogical practices. This paper reports preliminary findings from a pilot questionnaire with approximately 50 pre-service and graduate Australian HPE teachers located in the state of Victoria to examine the ways in conceptions of social justice are shaped through broader political dispositions. Findings are analysed through descriptive statistics and qualitative responses thematically analysed (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to identify the ways in which personal politics become implicated in conceptions of social justice and practices of social justice pedagogies

Braun. V., & Clarke, V. (2006). ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101 Fernandez-Balboa, J. (2017). ‘Imploding the boundaries of transformative/critical pedagogy and research in physical education and sport pedagogy: looking inward for (self) consciousness/knowledge and transformation’. Sport, Education and Society, 22(4), 426-441. Hickey, C., Mooney, A. & Alfrey, L (2019). ‘Locating Criticality in Policy: The ongoing struggle for a social justice agenda in school physical education’, Movimento, v. 25, e25063, p 1-11. Hickey, C., & Mooney, A (2019). ‘Critical scholarship in Physical Education Teacher Education: A journey, not a destination!’ in R. Pringle, H. Larsson & G. Gerdin, Critical research in sport, health and physical education: How to make a difference, Routledge., pp. 147-159. Lather, P. (1998). ‘Critical pedagogy and its complicities: A praxis of stuck places’. Educational Theory, 48(4), 487-497. Macdonald, D. (2013). ‘The new Australian Health and Physical Education Curriculum: a case of/for gradualism in curriculum reform’, Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education, 4(2), 95-108.

General description and research objectives

A growing amount of studies show that cooperation between researchers and teachers is important for teachers to develop their pedagogical practices in physical education (PE) (Fernandez-Rio & Iglesias, 2022; Parker et al., 2021). However, such studies have first and foremost been interested in the outcomes of these collaborations (for example Goodyear, 2017; Leirhaug et al., 2020), while the collaborative practices themselves has been more of an implicit focus (Bjørke & Casey, 2022). For example, is knowledge about how researchers experience their dual role as researchers and facilitators in such projects limited. What we do know however, is that researchers’ role is conceived to be complex (Bjørke & Casey, 2022; Moen & Bjørke, in review), and that facilitation is a specific skill that needs to be learned and practiced (Parker et al., 2021). Little is however known more specifically about what this complexity entails and how it eventually evolves and changes over the course of a project. The purpose with this paper is to contribute with knowledge on what professional role(s) researchers go in and out of when working in close collaboration with teachers, and how these are being negotiated. Consequently, the research question guiding the paper is: How do researchers negotiate their professional roles over a collaborative research project with teachers?

Theoretical framework

In order to grasp what roles researchers’ experience during a two-year collaborative development project, a mainstream conception of the term roles as “patterns of behavior and expectations associated with a position” (Roberts, 2009, p. 240) is relevant. At the same time, when studying how researchers negotiate their professional roles during the project period Goffmans theory, which describes the theatrical performances that occur in face-to-face interactions, will be utilized. Goffman conceptualize social life consisting of two opposite scenarios: The “front”, which is the formal and public stage, where people act in certain ways as persons as they would like others to view them. Further, he talks about people being “backstage” which refers to people being in a setting where they do not have to ‘take on’ professional roles because they are not on the professional stage. In other words, they are not posing (Goffman, 1959). Goffman’s theory helps us understand that social life, in this case the researchers’ roles in a prolonged collaborative research project, is grounded on the balance between front- and backstage, based on the idea that a person is like an actor on a stage. Role performance, how a person expresses the role, is thus relevant. Goffman believe that we use “impression management” to present ourselves to others as we hope to be perceived. He points to the relevance of viewing each situation as a new scene, and that individuals perform different roles depending on who is present (Goffman, 1959).

COVID-19 has had a huge impact on the way we live our lives, particularly regarding the way we work, learn and communicate with others (Hooper et al., 2020; Teti et al., 2020). Significantly, during the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers across the globe were also required to rethink their approaches and find alternative ways to undertake planned studies (Kara & Khoo, 2020; Howlett, 2022). For many researchers in the social sciences, a core change was that data collection via interviews and focus groups moved from being largely ‘in person’ to being undertaken in digital spaces. While technology (e.g., communication software such as Zoom, Skype or Microsoft Teams) has significant benefits here – facilitating ‘real-time’ conversations between individuals, often over spatial and temporal distances – it has been argued that it also creates some challenges and requires researchers to reflect on their perceptions, both of what fieldwork is and how it is done (Howlett, 2022). In this presentation, we undertake such reflection in relation to the impact of Covid-19 on our own research and consider the challenges involved in exploring difficult topics through online conversations. In doing so, we draw on our experience of delivering a series of online research workshops with pre-service physical education (PE) teachers, designed to explore our work around trauma-aware pedagogies (TAP) for PE (Quarmby et al., 2022).

Childhood trauma is recognised as a significant issue that has been exacerbated by factors associated with the Covid-19 pandemic (WHO, 2020). Trauma is thought to result from a range of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) (Felitti et al., 1998; Smith, 2018) and is understood to be an overwhelming experience that undermines a person’s belief in the world as a good and safe place (SAMHSA, 2014). It has been noted that the impacts of trauma can often ‘play out’ in young people’s behaviour within various social contexts, including within the field of school (e.g., via disengagement, disruption, conflict with others). As such, there are growing calls for practitioners to become ‘trauma-aware’ (O’Toole, 2022), including those working specifically in the context of PE (Quarmby et al., 2022). Our recent work in this area has sought to engage pre-service teachers of PE in conversations about trauma and how best to understand, recognise and respond to it in practice. Such conversations are often challenging, given that ‘trauma’ can be a sensitive topic and practitioner experiences are very much context specific. Moreover, they are made more difficult, perhaps, when undertaken in an online environment where participants - often unknown to each other - are physically distanced and conversations/interactions are less direct (Howlett, 2022).

Within this presentation, we draw on this recent work and look to articulate some of the efforts undertaken to address this challenge, focusing in particular on the use of GIFs (Graphics Interchange Format - a type of digital file in which the size of images/short animations are reduced to facilitate easier access and sharing) as a data collection tool and as a means of articulating complex ideas, experiences and perspectives. GIFs have been identified as being particularly valuable in terms of their capacity to engage others, to express moods and to tell stories (Wallbaum et al., 2016; Biggs et al., 2021). Moreover, in addition to being used/taken at face value, they can be repurposed or reinterpreted, allowing them to be taken out of their context and applied in a more abstract way (Bakhshi et al., 2016). As such, we argue that there is value in considering the role GIFs may play in both generating data and facilitating difficult conversations within a research context.

‘Alternative education settings’ (AES) is the term used internationally to describe schools or programmes that serve young people who are not succeeding in ‘traditional’ school environments. These settings offer pupils an opportunity to achieve in different contexts adopting different, and often innovative, approaches to learning (Aron, 2006). It is important to note, however, that there is some variation with regard to the terms adopted for AES globally (Forterms et al., 2023). For example, in Finland, it is referred to as Flexible Basic Education (FBE), while in Australia, such settings are known as Flexible Learning Options (FLO). In England, however – where the study that this presentation reports on was located – the term alternative provision is employed. Alternative provision refers to education arranged by local authorities for children and young people of compulsory school age who, because of reasons such as school exclusion, short or long-term illness or behaviour issues, would not otherwise receive suitable education in mainstream schools (DfE, 2013). Within England, this includes settings such as pupil referral units (PRUs), alternative provision academies, free schools, and hospital schools.

According to the latest report in January 2022, there are approximately 35,600 pupils attending alternative provision settings in England (DfE, 2022). Young people attend alternative education settings for many reasons, often because of a combination of academic, economic, behavioural, social, cultural and/or emotional issues, which have caused them to become disengaged or excluded from mainstream schools (Mills & McGregor, 2010). In fact, those attending alternative provision are often identified as being ‘at-risk’ or marginalised, may have suffered neglect or trauma during their childhood, or come from low socio-economic backgrounds (Forterms et al., 2023). Moreover, it has been reported that one in two pupils in alternative provision in England has social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) as their primary category of special educational need (SEN) (House of Commons, 2018). Importantly, a key ambition of alternative provisions settings is to re-integrate pupils into mainstream education and they endeavour to do so by re-engaging pupils with learning, as well as promoting their social and emotional development.

It is here that physical education is perceived to play an important role here, given that it offers a means of engaging young people in positive youth development (Holt, 2016), reducing risky behaviours (Audrain-McGovern et al., 2006), and providing opportunities for the development of healthy and supportive peer friendships and adult relationships (Eime et al., 2013; Vella et al., 2014). It has even been argued that physical education can serve as a therapeutic setting for learning and practising social objectives (Ayvazo and Aljadeff-Abergel, 2019). As such, physical education may represent an opportune space within alternative provision schools for re-engaging disaffected pupils with learning. However, no prior research exists exploring physical education within alternative provision schools either in England, specifically, nor internationally. As such, the potential of the subject for supporting pupils within alternative provision settings remains somewhat theorised.

The aims of this presentation are therefore twofold: (1) to examine young people’s experiences of physical education in alternative provision settings and (2) to reflect on the challenges of conducting research with young people in alternative provision schools, as well as the opportunities.

Internationally, the term alternative education settings (AES) is used to describe schools or programmes that serve young people who are not succeeding in traditional school environments, offering those pupils an opportunity to achieve in different settings adopting different, and often innovative, approaches to learning (Aron, 2006). Forterms et al. (2023) suggest it is difficult to provide an all-encompassing definition of alternative education because of the variation between alternative education options globally. Indeed, in Finland it is referred to as Flexible Basic Education (FBE), while in Australia, programmes that cater to young people not attending mainstream school are called Flexible Learning Options (FLO). However, in England specifically, the term alternative provision is employed, referring to education arranged by local authorities for children and young people of compulsory school age who, because of reasons such as school exclusion, short or long-term illness or behaviour issues, would not otherwise receive suitable education in mainstream schools (DfE, 2013). In England, this includes settings such as pupil referral units (PRUs), alternative provision academies, free schools, and hospital schools. According to the latest report in January 2022, the number of pupils attending alternative provision has increased by over 3,100 (10%) to 35,600 since 2020/21 (DfE, 2022).

Young people attend alternative education settings for many reasons, often because of a combination of academic, economic, behavioural, social, cultural and/or emotional issues, which have caused them to become disengaged or excluded from mainstream schools (Mills & McGregor, 2010). In fact, those attending alternative provision are often identified as being ‘at-risk’ or marginalised, may have suffered neglect or trauma during their childhood, or come from low socio-economic backgrounds (Forterms et al., 2023). Moreover, a 2018 House of Commons briefing paper reported one in two pupils in alternative provision in England having social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) as their primary category of special educational need (SEN). Most alternative provision settings therefore seek to re-engage pupils with learning, as well as promote social and emotional development, with the aim of pupils re-integrating into mainstream education.

Crucially, physical education can play a key role here, offering a means of engaging young people in positive youth development (Holt, 2016), reducing risky behaviours (Audrain-McGovern et al., 2006), and providing opportunities for the development of healthy and supportive peer friendships and adult relationships (Eime et al., 2013; Vella et al., 2014). Moreover, Ayvazo and Aljadeff-Abergel (2019) suggest that physical education is a fruitful setting for the learning of values and social skills, engaging pupils in activities which inherently require social interactions (e.g., team games) and the demonstration of pro-social behaviours (e.g., self-control, treating others safely and fairly) in emotionally stimulating situations. As such, they argue that physical education can serve as a therapeutic setting for learning and practising social objectives (Ayvazo and Aljadeff-Abergel, 2019). Hence, physical education may represent a viable context for re-engaging disaffected youth within alternative provision settings, and could serve as a catalyst to facilitate the transfer of pupils from alternative provision schools back to mainstream schooling.

However, there is no prior research exploring physical education within alternative provision schools in England, specifically, nor internationally. As such, the aims of this novel paper are twofold: (1) to map the provision of physical education in alternative provision schools in England and, (2) to identify barriers and facilitators to the delivery of physical education from the perspective of practitioners (i.e., those tasked with delivering it).

This article examines how low-socioeconomic status (SES) youth who play soccer in professional clubs experience and define themselves, the place of soccer, and being professional youth players in their self-concept from the perspective of Bourdieu’s class theory. This examination may help in understanding the processes of socialization associated with sports among different classes and the acquisition of class habitus through sports (Bourdieu, 1978). The research literature linking class, education, and sports explores how specific sports are related to class (Bourdieu, 1978); the decision-making process of parents from different classes in enrolling their children in different sports as a leisure activity (Eriksen and Stefansen, 2021); and the acquisition of sporting habitus through specific sports (Schmitt et al., 2020).

However, little attention has been given to the youths’ perspectives in the literature. This lacuna should concern us because the study of youths’ perspectives can provide insights into sport socialization in class contexts (Stuij, 2005), the habitus and cultural capital (educational credentials and the possession of legitimate knowledge, traits, skills, and tastes) of sports-related activities (Lenartowich, 2016), and the transmission of cultural capital by sports coaches as socializing agents (Stuij, 2015) in the field of informal education. To explore these issues, this article reports on a study involving 22 in-depth interviews with low-SES youth who play in professional soccer clubs located in Israel’s geographical and social periphery. These youth players participate in professional soccer during after-school hours, i.e., in what is known as informal education or extracurricular activities (Friedman, 2013).

Against this background, this article poses five key research questions: How do low-SES youth describe their self-concept? What are the educational experiences of these youth in school? How do the youth describe their experiences of participating in professional soccer? What is the future orientation of these youth? Are the descriptions of the youth related to the processes of construction and maintenance of social inequality, and if so, how?

These questions are important in light of that recent decades, along with an increase in the number of children taking part in organized sports programs, amateur sports have been becoming more organized and professional (Mubarik et al., 2016). In the United States, for example, recent estimates are that approximately 45 million children and youth take part in organized sports. Seventy-five percent of families in the United States with school-age children have at least one child who participates in organized sports (Merkel, 2013). In Israel, it is estimated that half a million youth, male and female, engage in organized sports in schools, community clubs, and sports clubs, investing about 12–15 hours a week in practices and games (Noza, 2018). This allows little time for these youth to engage in other leisure activities, making the sports arena the largest informal “youth movement” in Israel, with more participants than all the other youth movements combined. The number of participants in all youth movements in Israel (such as the Scouts) is 350,000 (Zarhovich, 2018).

Through digital technologies, computer science and generative artificial intelligence (AI), education is being expanded in almost every conceivable direction. Examples include: the ways in which knowledge is created, curated, synthesised, shared and accessed; opportunities for connectedness between learners and between learners and instructors; speed of tasks, for example data analysis; the development of new hybrid pedagogies; and the extension of our understanding of personhood and what it is to be 'real' or 'virtual' or (and certainly for young learners) almost seamlessly both. In this lecture, I consider the digital opportunities and challenges facing the university sector and implications for us as researchers, particularly in a period of financial constraint. Questions to be addressed include: (i) do we know what we want from digital technologies - especially developments in AI - to ensure researchers, teachers and learners in physical education and sport gain optimal benefit; (ii) how are we ensuring that technology creators and innovators are designing what we want and need; (iii) are we training professional educators in physical education and sport to thrive – and lead - in AI-enabled worlds; and (iv) is our research keeping up?

The main aims of this symposium are to introduce members of the UK Physical Education (UKPE) Collaborative and to share some of the findings from their UKPE cross-border learning project.

The UKPE Collaborative consists of a group of researchers from across the four nations of the UK (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), all with a shared interested in curriculum, or more specifically, physical education (PE) curricula and the role that curriculum plays in shaping the practices of PE teachers. Relatedly, they are also interested in exploring the mechanisms through which teachers might be encouraged to engage critically with curriculum, and how they develop capacities to re-imagine PE curriculum – what purpose it serves, who it serves and the possibilities for enactment both now and in the future. One of the ideas currently being explored by the UK PE Collaborative in this regard is cross-border curriculum learning. That is, the professional learning potential of cross-curriculum analyses, discussion and debate. The premise is that, by exploring ‘other’ curricula, it is possible to see your own curriculum from a different perspective (Gray, MacIsaac & Harvey, 2018). This then encourages different questions to be asked about curriculum, challenging previously taken-for-granted assumptions about what PE is and who it is for.

The starting point in this endeavor was to carry out a series of cross-border curriculum analyses focusing on the four PE curricula of the UK, namely those in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (Gray et al., 2021). Through these analyses, dominant discourses within each curriculum have been uncovered and the concept of health has been critically analysed (Gray et al., 2022), as have the pedagogical messages conveyed within each curriculum. Furthermore, the comparative approach adopted has enabled the identification of similarities and differences across curricula, which has stimulated ideas about what PE curricula could be in the future. Following these curriculum analyses, one-to-one interviews with PE teachers (n-11) from across the four nations of the UK were conducted to explore how they understand PE, with some focus on the role of health and well-being within the subject. In addition to this, and aligned with a future-orientated (or perhaps, change-orientated) perspective, the PE teachers were also asked to reflect on the changes they made to their curriculum and practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, a series of teacher workshops was organised, bringing together PE teachers from across the four nations of the UK to share and discuss the findings from the teacher interviews. The two main aims of the workshops were: first, to use these discussions as a form of cross-border learning; and, second, to use this learning to work together to begin to (re)imagine what PE could be.

The three papers presented within the symposium reflect each stage of this research process described above. In Paper 1, researchers will present the key findings from the critical discourse analysis of the health discourses evident within each UK PE curriculum. Paper 2 will then present the findings from the teacher interviews, highlighting teachers’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and changes they made to their curriculum and practice as a result, including a renewed focus on the development of social and emotional competencies. Finally, Paper 3 will describe the teacher workshops and explore the ideas that were produced from the future-orientated co-creation activities that the teachers engaged in as part of these. The symposium will conclude by reflecting on the value of cross-border learning, considering the ways in which this approach might build the capacity of teachers to engage more critically with curriculum and have a greater say in future curriculum developments.

In this paper, we present the findings from our critical analysis of the health discourses evident within physical education (PE) curricula in each UK home nation – England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (Gray et al., 2022). We carried out a critical discourse analysis of those curriculum documents that talk directly to PE teachers about how to organise, enact and assess PE curricula in schools. The results from our analysis uncovered that, with the exception of the curriculum in England, all PE curricula conceptualise health and wellbeing holistically. However, our analysis also uncovered complex health landscapes within curricula, where discourses move from notions of supporting and enabling pupil health and wellbeing, towards a more concrete (and measurable) concept of health-related learning, often associated with public health goals of promoting physical activity. We conclude by suggesting that PE teachers need to develop a critical understanding of the health discourses evident within their PE curriculum. This will help them to navigate, interpret and enact curriculum in an informed way, enabling them to challenge discourses that are deficit in nature, where pupils are taught how to be healthy, rather than having the freedom to learn about themselves and their health.

Gray, S., Hooper, O., Hardley, S., Sandford, R., Aldous, D., Stirrup, J., Carse, N., & Bryant, A. S. (2022). A health(y) subject? Examining discourses of health in physical education curricula across the UK. British Educational Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3820

This paper seeks to provide an overview of physical education (PE) teachers’ responses to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes that they made to their curricula and practice as a result, sharing findings from individual interviews conducted with PE teachers in the wake of this. It was found that – like much of the education system – significant disruption was encountered due to the pandemic. However, the effects of this were seemingly felt more strongly within PE, given the unique nature of the subject in relation to, for example, the subject matter, the learning environments and the nature of interactions within it. Teachers noted how they had to think creatively about how they taught PE in pandemic times, detailing a range of approaches and strategies that they employed when forced to take PE lessons online. Interestingly, it was found that, on returning to in-person lessons, teachers had reoriented their curricula and practice, with a renewed focus on social and emotional learning. Indeed, amongst teachers there was a perceived need to support the development of these capacities due to the detrimental impacts of the pandemic – and associated lockdown measures and restricted social interaction - on pupils. However, despite noting the benefits of a renewed focus on social and emotional learning – for example, enhanced engagement and student enjoyment – there was a desire from many teachers to ‘get back to normal’. Typically, this meant reverting to what might be considered more ‘traditional’ PE lessons focused on skill acquisition and sport performance. As such, this paper asks questions of how we bring about meaningful and sustainable change within PE and how we support PE teachers to think differently about their curriculum and practice to move beyond such ‘business as usual’ approaches.

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In this paper, we present initial findings from our workshops with teachers, exploring the ideas that were produced from the future-orientated co-creation activities that teachers engaged in as part of these. The research to be presented here is in its early stages but will draw on data collected during the two series of workshops conducted with PE teachers from across the UK. These workshops focused on: i) engage in discussions about PE curriculum and practice as across the home nations as a form of cross-border learning and ii) to use this learning to work together to begin to (re)imagine what PE could be in the future. The first workshop provided stimulus for the teachers to think about their own and others’ curricula and practice as well as presenting them with opportunities to discuss their thoughts with other PE teachers from across the home nations of the UK. Following this, participants completed a ‘take home’ task to encouraging them to consider and co-create with their departments what they see as the ‘ideal learner’ in PE. These creations coupled with the initial ideas from the first workshop, were the starting point for the second workshop whereby teachers were asked to consider their conversations to date and how these might encourage more innovative thinking around PE curriculum and practice. Indeed, it was intended that by exploring different curricula and practice, PE teachers might be able to see their own curriculum from a different perspective, perhaps asking different questions about what PE is and who it is for. The focus of this paper, therefore, will be to share and explore how teachers began to think (and think differently) about their own curriculum and practice as a result of the workshops and professional dialogue with other teachers from different home nations of the UK.

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All networks hold a meeting during ECER. All interested are welcome.

During the last decades there has been a growing interest in issues concerning children’s rights in sport, and problems that concern the welfare and well-being of youth in sport have been addressed. Research acknowledges for example the role of overtraining, sexual and emotional abuse, burnout and dropout (David, 2005; Donnelly, 2008; UNICEF, 2010). One aspect that is less studied but nevertheless has been pointed out as an important factor that may prevent many violations, is to secure that youth always have a voice i.e., to guarantee that they can exercise their participation right This endeavor is tantamount to the intentions in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It concerns the child's right to express his or her views in all matters that concern them. A child is regarded a person up to 18 years of age which means that the convention also covers those we usually call youth.

In this study, we are inspired by Elvstrand (2009) who acknowledges that participation is part of the concept of democracy and thereby has a broad meaning that includes both the right to influence and the right to be included. In that sense, we assume that it is possible to distinguish between different forms of participation – a political form and a social form. Political participation is about the right to influence, to have "a voice", and to be part of decision-makings. For this to be possible, young people need information, be asked, and encouraged to comment and be listened to. In other words, young people should be included in such a way that the practice can be designed to suit their needs and desires). Social participation is about the right to be included and part of a community, for example to be part of sporting activities carried out in a club. We are thus seeing the concept of participation both as a social right (to be a part of a group, such as a gymnastic or ice hockey club) and as a political right (to have an impact and the power to influence decisions).

One premise for this study is that having something to say about one’s participation is closely related to whether the participants are primarily constructed as subjects of experience and willingness, or as objects of external forces and demands, and this is in turn affected by norms and values that dominate different sporting practices. We are thus interested in illuminating young peoples’ chances to be subjects in their own thinking and acting when participating in movement cultures of various kinds. Consequently, both young participants and adult coaches are regarded as socio-culturally situated.

The aim of this study is to examine young athletes' perspectives on different forms of participation and to analyse the conditions for competitive sports participation in club sport. Central questions are: What experiences do young athletes have of social and political participation in club sport? What are the possibilities in general for young athletes to have something to say about central matters, such as goal settings, training frequency, training content, selections, tactics, and team rules?

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is fundamental to the well-being and development of children and youth. One of the essential parts of the UNCRC is article 12 that stipulates: "All children shall have the opportunity to make their voices heard on matters relating to them, taking into account age and maturity" (UN, 1989). Article 12 requires that the child should have the possibility to take an active part in the exercise of the rights and participation is therefore a fundamental issue even if the word itself is not explicitly used. In sport, which is an important part of life for many young people, almost no attention has been given to youth voices and participation rights. Although the implementation of human rights issues in general is a growing field within sport (David, 2005; Donnelly, 2008; Sinohara, 2020), Lang (2022) points out that hardly anything is known about the views of young athletes or whether their voices are genuinely incorporated into sporting practice. In fact, the voices of young athletes are still largely unheard (Lang, 2022; UNICEF, 2011).

Equestrian sport is one of the largest youth sports in Sweden and according to the Swedish Equestrian Federation is more than half of the members of the country's equestrian clubs under the age of 26 years. As many as 150,000 young people ride at some point every year (Swedish Equestrian Federation, 2020). The context within equestrian sport provides opportunities to interact with others and take care of horses which have proved to cultivate several leadership-skills (Forsberg & Tebelius, 2011). In connection with #metoo, however, negative experiences from young equestrian girls have become public. This has included stories of exploitation by adults who had the power to decide who would gain advantages in the stable, such as riding the best horse, take part in competitions or receiving other sought-after benefits (#visparkarbakut, 2017). Today, five years later, such stories are still being told and spread (Aftonbladet, 2022; Dagens Nyheter, 2022). Both emotional and sexual abuse are voiced. The situation is thus paradoxical: equestrianism seems to provide a sporting environment that is empowering and fosters young girls to become leaders, but it is also a place where hierarchies and a culture of silence seem to prevail. More knowledge is needed about the conditions that enable young equestrians to exercise their participation rights and have a voice within the sport.

The objectives in this presentation are to describe how young equestrians perceive their possibilities to have a voice. The theoretical frame to analyze this is from a sociocultural perspective and the notion that participation is not either or but exists on a continuum (Hart, 1992; 2008). We see human actions as situated in social practices and consider that young equestrians as well as riding instructors and coaches act on the basis of their own knowledge and experience and according to what they consciously or unconsciously perceive is required, permitted or possible (Säljö, 2014). The participation can be seen both from a social (the right to take part and be included) and a political (the right to influence and have ‘a voice’) perspective (Thomas, 2007; Elvstrand, 2009; Redelius & Eliasson, 2022).

Research has been showing the importance of sport in society, stressing its role in promoting citizenship (ActiveVoice, 2008), volunteering, and social values (Health Promotion & Improvement Department of the HSE, 2012; Sport and Citizenship, 2018). In this vein, the integration of children and young people in sports contexts has been increasing, not only due to its potential of enhancing health and well-being, but also of fostering personal and social development connected to civic participation. Concretely, sports practice has been widely associated with the development of psychosocial and educational competences that often translate into civic behaviors attitudes: cooperation, leadership, critical awareness, responsibility, decision-making (Hellison & Martinek, 2009; Torralba, 2017). Existing studies report changes at (i) the individual level (eg, collaborative work and interpersonal skills); (ii) the pedagogy practices (teaching/training programs designed to instigate e.g., self-efficacy, leadership, and teamwork); and (iii) the social dimensions (interventions with groups at risk of socio-educational exclusion, related to e.g., absenteeism, school dropout, and addictive behaviors) (Lerner et al., 2006). Despite the range of evidence relating sports with psychological, social and educational competences, research remains rather opaque concerning the collective and political effects of youth involvement in sports. In other words, a community-level perspective and a link between individual competences and democratic citizenship practices are lacking. These are shortcomings that this presentation aims at address. Even though the development of programs based on sport reinforce the idea that integration in sports teams and contexts promotes individual and collective empowerment (García-Arjona, 2017; Lerner et al., 2006), these benefits have not been yet recognized, neither in research, not in public policies (Fernández Marrón, 2017; Hellison & Martinek, 2009). Therefore, drawing on studies emphasizing the importance of educational and community synergies in fostering political involvement and democratic citizenship (Lawy & Biesta, 2006), it is crucial a close-up investigation exploring how the dynamics of sports contexts promote democratic and participatory experiences for each young athlete (Schaillée et al., 2019), and how the development of these skills can be related to civic and political participation in the community, namely when referring to the sense of belonging and inclusion of all citizens (García-Arjona, 2017). This is even more relevant if we consider, on the one hand, the political pleas for promoting youth democratic engagement as remedy to avoid the expansion of populist and radicalist agendas, and, on the other hand, the adultist trends that still pervade many international projects that are neither led by youth nor anchored in true partnership between children and young athletes.

The fundamental role of youth civic and political participation for healthy democracies has been repeatedly stressed and vastly explored, reporting the emergence of unconventional forms of participation, more fluid and less institutional (Malafaia et al., 2021). Sport has been included in these new forms of participation, as evidenced by the growing number of youth development interventions based on sport and grinded on principles of inclusion and participation (Petitpas et al., 2005).

The central purpose of our study is to understand how sports can be a catalyst context of activism by contributing to the development of young athletes as citizens committed to build inclusive societies. In particular, the study seeks to: a) explore the potential of sport to promote socio-educational outcomes linked to the development of civic/political skills and democratic citizenship; b) instigate the participation of athletes in the development of actions in/with the community by increasing their sense of belonging and levels of participation; c) equip youth with activist tools to promote social and political change in their communities.

Internationally, there continues to be much debate about the subject of physical education (PE) and its place and purpose within schools (Kirk, 2010; Ekberg, 2021; Gray et al., 2022). Though there is recognition within the field that PE has much potential for supporting learning across multiple domains (Hooper et al., 2020; Lamb et al., 2021), and can contribute to the holistic development of young people (Bailey et al., 2009; Luguetti & Oliver, 2020), concerns continue to be raised about the precarious and, often, marginalised position of the subject within the educational landscape (Kirk, 2010). PE’s precarious history and lack of clear purpose in the curriculum has arguably played a significant role in how it has come to be positioned within research, policy, and practice in schools globally. Certainly, research has highlighted several issues faced by PE globally, including a disconnect between policy and practice, a ‘squeezing’ of curriculum time, and its positioning, often, as subject without academic significance (Chepyator-Thomson, 2014; Stidder, 2023. Growing concerns about sedentary lifestyles and the rise of lifestyle diseases (e.g., obesity and diabetes) have also seen PE increasingly aligned with a health agenda, with health now being a prominent feature in many curricula (Gray et al., 2022). Such shifts have led to concerns that PE is often tasked with ‘much to do’, and questions have been asked regarding just what the subject is (or should) be accountable for (e.g., Bailey et al., 2009).

Advocates for the subject have continued to ‘make the case’ for PE and to argue its value to and for young people (see UNESCO, 2017; afPE, 2019). Within this context, efforts to justify and enhance the status of PE have led to an increased focus on what constitutes Quality Physical Education (QPE) (e.g., Penney et al., 2009) and, in some contexts, to calls for PE to sit alongside subjects such as mathematics and sciences as a ‘core’ element in school curricula (e.g., Harris, 2018). Dyson (2014) argues that the question of ‘what is quality physical education?’ is an important one to consider, as it directs attention to key components of practice. On this, Penney et al., (2009) suggest that curriculum, pedagogy and assessment are three fundamental dimensions of ‘quality PE’, while it is also recognised that QPE is dependent on factors such as sufficient curriculum time, adequate resource and the availability of specialist practitioners, as well as the provision of inclusive, meaningful and relevant content (Kirk, 2004; Walseth et al., 2018).

In light of the discussion above, it is notable that UNESCO (2015) developed a series of Quality Physical Education (QPE) guidelines, which sought to inform PE practice globally across the full age range. In this work, QPE is defined as “the planned, progressive, inclusive learning experience that forms part of the curriculum in early years, primary and secondary education” (UNESCO, 2015, p. 9). Underpinned by a rights perspective, QPE is supported by the identification of specific indicators which detail core characteristics of PE that are seen to support quality provision. These indicators reflect broader debates and include a focus on factors such as the development of specific PE policy, the time allocated to PE within the curriculum, the inclusive nature of PE, and the training of specialist practitioners. Within this presentation, we draw on data from UNESCO’s global QPE survey – built around these indicators – to reflect on what they tell us about the current status of PE around the globe. Moreover, we use this as a basis to consider the implications for the future of PE and potential developments within research, policy and practice in the field.

There has been much debate – both nationally and internationally and over a sustained period of time – about the subject of physical education (PE) and its place and purpose within schools (Kirk, 2010; Ekberg, 2021; Gray et al., 2022a). It has long been recognised by those within the subject that it has much potential for realising learning across multiple domains (Hooper, Sandford & Jarvis, 2020; Lamb et al., 2021) and for supporting the holistic development of young people (Bailey et al., 2009; Luguetti & Oliver, 2020). However, questions have continued to be raised about the educative capacity of the subject and the contribution it makes – or is able to make – to the education of young people (Quennerstedt, 2019). These questions typically stem from what has been considered to be the relatively limited change with regard to how PE has been conceptualised and enacted in practice (Kirk, 2010; Herold, 2020; Gray et al., 2022a) and the continued dominance of particular agendas (i.e., health) within PE (Jung, Pope & Kirk, 2016; Lindsey et al., 2020; Gray et al., 2022b). Nonetheless, advocates of the subject have continued to ‘make the case’ for the subject and to argue its value to and for young people (see UNESCO, 2017; afPE, 2019). Calls for PE to become a core subject are not new, though in England these were formalised by Harris (2018) on behalf of the PE Expert Group.

It is notable that PE is the only foundation subject that is compulsory from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4 but while this is somewhat akin to core status it is not an equivalent and interpretations of this in practice have been varied. As such, there has continued to be sustained interest and advocacy – following the formal call from Harris (2018) – in making PE a core subject and momentum has been gained in this regard following the formation of the Association for PE (afPE) Taskforce in 2020. The afPE Taskforce was assembled to consider (and make recommendations on) the future of PE within England and comprised expert representatives from across the PE sector with support from a wider advisory group. As part of their work, the afPE Taskforce published a report on putting PE at ‘The Heart of School Life’. The afPE Taskforce report set out to make recommendations to Government about the subject of PE with two of the headline recommendations relating to making PE a core subject. However, despite the House of Lords responding positively to the recommendation to make PE a core subject, the Government’s official response was less positive, affirming that they “do not currently plan to make PE a core subject” (HM Government, 2022, p. 11). As such, despite a strong case being put forward by Harris (2018) and continued interest and advocacy in making PE a core subject, the Government remain unconvinced.

Whilst there is evidently much enthusiasm for making PE a core subject, from a range of stakeholders, there remains a dearth of evidence surrounding the impact such a move would have for pupils, teachers, schools and communities more broadly. Therefore, research is needed to explore the (potential) impact of making PE a core subject and to generate evidence that might be used to demonstrate this and ultimately to better make the case for PE being designated as a core subject. This paper presents the first phase of a research project that seeks to do this by evaluating a pilot of PE as a core subject across primary and secondary schools within a large academy trust in England.

With the recognition that education is a complex, interrelated and emergent phenomenon (Ovens et al, 2012), interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary ways of approaching educational topics are becoming more prevalent (Klein, 2018). Heterarchical ways of working, in which all participants are engaged in the learning and development process, are gradually replacing the linear, top-down hierarchies that have long dominated. Within this non-linear and more inclusive landscape, developing shared visions for the future have become a significant component of many educational developments (Huffman & Hipp, 2001). However, as this development process is a collaborative and dynamic endeavour, creating shared visions is not straightforward because it requires all those involved to be suitably equipped to effectively contribute to this joint process (Augsburg, 2014). Constructing a personal vision for the future, aligned with the ability to articulate and share their vision with others, is subsequently an important attribute for teachers as they engage in these future-oriented discussions (Shulman & Shulman, 2004). In addition, while part of this collaborative venture, personal vision also has an important role in helping teachers’ shape the nature of their own professional development.

In North America, teachers’ personal vision has become recognised as a key component of their initial and continuing teacher education (Hammerness, 2006). A teacher’s personal vision is an image of what they aspire to achieve in their classroom, school, and community and, in some cases, even society (Hammerness, 2001). This personal vision can guide the negotiation of policy, become a mechanism for reflecting on experience to inform future professional learning (Shulman & Shulman, 2004) and can also help teachers contribute to the wider development of departmental, school and community visons. Initiating the vision-making process with student teachers in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) has been identified as the most productive but most challenging place to begin this process (Hara & Sherbine, 2018). Developing vision at this early career phase helps student teachers think strategically, which later avoids confining them as teachers ‘gathering endless strategies, practical tips, and curriculum information’ (Kosnik & Beck, 2011, p. 122). Visioning in ITE can instead initiate a process to support the clearer articulation of beliefs and values about teaching and learning, foster a critical awareness about policy directives and explore an activist stance in relation to dominant discourses.

With this background in mind, ‘Vision and Voices’ is a multi-layered longitudinal project being developed as part of a four-year undergraduate Physical Education initial teacher education programme at the University (Munro et al, 2022). Involving almost 400 full-time students, efforts are being made to interweave the development of personal vision across the programme. Threading personal vision across the programme, however, is a complex process and requires collaborative and connected efforts by university staff to include vision-related activities within their own practice. Consequently, while the tracking of student teacher’s evolving visions is ongoing (Jess et al, 2021), the project is also investigating how university staff can work together to incorporate the development of student’s personal visions across the different courses that make up the programme. This is important because teacher educators are an under-researched, poorly understood, and ill-defined group (Murray, 2014) and physical education teacher educators even more-so (McEvoy et al., 2015). Consequently, this study seeks to explore personal vision within a European context and make a contribution to future practice. To do this, three related research questions are addressed:

1. What are the personal visions of teacher educators working on the PE programme?
2. How do these visions inform their teacher educator practice on the PE programme?
3. How should the ‘Vision and Voices’ project progress in the future?

We will present the background, theoretical framework, methodology, and some preliminary findings of a project that aims to provide knowledge about how movement subject knowledge is conceptualised in physical education teacher education (PETE). Teachers need this knowledge to fulfil PE’s purpose of helping students develop what is in Swedish national curricula called “movement capacity” and “physical ability”.

The background for the project can be found in long-standing criticism of physical education (PE). For some time now, PE has been described as in a state of crisis due to declining legitimacy in education systems that increasingly value ‘academic knowledge’ (Hardman 2011), and/or due to current forms of PE being out of step with broader health and recreational trends (Tinning 2006). Kirk (2010) holds that, if not radically reformed, PE faces extinction as a school subject. Specifically, Kirk claims that movement knowledge is taught to students mainly in the form of decontextualized sport techniques in short bursts of practice that offer little in terms of learning.

In the Swedish context, national evaluations (SSI 2010, 2018) and research (Redelius & Larsson 2020) highlight PE’s struggle to evolve from an ‘activity subject’ to a ‘knowledge subject’, a transformation mandated in national curricula since 1994. These investigations of PE paint a picture where systematic attempts to develop movement knowledge are conspicuous by their absence (see also Larsson & Nyberg 2017).

Kirk (2010) proposes that PETE educators have a responsibility to lead reform in PE, and this includes defining subject knowledge. It is primarily PETE institutions that have the competence and critical mass for this purpose. Some researchers, however, suggest that PETE has itself been slow to change (Larsson, Linnér & Schenker 2018), that it has continued to emphasise traditional teacher knowledge (Mordal-Moen & Green 2014), and that it has struggled to present alternatives to movement knowledge that are not based on competition or fitness (Backman & Larsson 2013). Exacerbating PETE’s difficulty to lead knowledge reform is a tendency to distinguish between ‘practical knowledge’ and ‘academic knowledge’ (Herold & Waring, 2017).

Attempts to reform PETE have mainly focused on didactics and calls for the inclusion of socially critical perspectives (Larsson, et al 2018; Backman & Larsson 2013). We agree that didactics and critical perspectives are well worth attention in PETE. Still, without a clear definition of the subject knowledge, these efforts may prove literally baseless. Therefore, there is a need to define the subject knowledge required for the practice of the PE teacher profession. Similar work is carried out under the name content knowledge (CK) for physical education (see, e.g., Ward, 2013; Iserbyt, Ward & Li, 2017), but this research focuses primarily on student performance while we rather focus on students' movement knowledge.

Theoretically, the project is grounded in Young’s (2013) notion of powerful knowledge. The notion of powerful knowledge was developed in curriculum research because of ‘a neglect of the knowledge question itself and what a curriculum would be like if an “entitlement to knowledge” was its goal’ (Young, 2013, 107). Powerful knowledge concerns “specialized knowledge in contrast to everyday or contextualized knowledge. It is knowledge that can help students understand and explain the world and give them certain ‘powers’ in terms of capacity to move beyond their context-bound experience” (Carlgren 2020, 323). According to Young, powerful knowledge opens doors to new understandings and should be offered to all students in school.

Embodiment and embodied learning have emerged as significant topics in physical education and sport pedagogy over the last couple of decades. As a consequence, the pedagogical work done on, with and through the body has garnered research interest. A recent review of the literature on pedagogies of embodiment in physical education (Aartun et al., 2020) reported two thematic findings that characterized this literature: (i) enabling critical reflections and (ii) exploring (new) movements. Pedagogies of embodiment thus span the spectrum of pedagogical work concerning embodiment, from critical reflections on the social construction of the body to lived, embodied experiences of movement.

Research taking the latter approach to pedagogies of embodiment has for instance looked into how teachers can help students to notice, pay attention to and language one's own body as means towards developing movement capabilities and how experiences of enjoyment and meaningfulness are connected to movement learning and valuing physical activity (e.g. Lambert, 2020). Also, Aartun and colleagues found that exploring new movements could be a means towards ends such as developing trust within a group, more democratic forms of participation in PE as well as to challeng stereotypical ideas of movement cultures.

Within teacher education, there is a line of research on embodied learning and embodiment that explores how PETE can be conceptualized differently from more traditional and dualistic conceptions of the body in movement. Lambert (2020) advocated a re-conceptualization of PE and PETE by asking what an embodied form of PE and PETE might look like. By drawing on the work of P.J. Arnold, Lambert articulates the core of PE and PETE as "thinking ‘in’ movement (mind); intention ‘in’ movement (body); sensing ‘in’ movement (pleasure); sharing ‘in’ movement (other)" (p. 162). Nyberg, Backman and Larsson (2020) explored the meaning of movement capability for students in PETE and found four qualitatively different ways of experiencing movement capability: being able to move in order to achieve certain purposes, being able to iterate movements, experiencing various degrees of difference and aspects of moving and sensing one's own movement. Thus, both conceptually (Lambert, 2020) and empirically (Nyberg et al., 2020) the notion of exploring movements as a part of PETE have begun to be investigated. The purpose of this studyis to explore how PETE students experience learning new movements and to discuss the implications of these experiences for pedagogies of embodiment in PETE.

The theoretical perspective we draw on is Richard Shusterman's philosophy of somaesthetics, which concerns "the body as a locus of sensory-aesthetic appreciation (aesthesis) and creative self-fashioning" (Shusterman, 2012, p. 27). In particular, there are two concepts from Shusterman’s rich vein of writing that we tap into, namely pragmatic somaesthetics and _eeling better. More specifically, we are interested in the performative aspect of pragmatic somaesthetics, which “focus primarily on building strength, health, or skill, disciplines such as weightlifting, athletics, and martial arts” (p. 16). Within this category, Shusterman makes a further distinction between practices that are aimed at external appearance, such as the display of strength or skill, and practices that aim at inner experience. The latter concerns the notion of feeling better. The ambiguity of the notion is intended since it covers both the improvement of becoming more acutely perceptive of one’s inner experience of moving as well as heightening our satisfaction with being in movement.

It is well established that students in higher education need to develop evaluative skills in order to become effective learners (Guest & Riegler 2022). Assessment for Learning (AfL) is a model for assessment that strengthens learning in schools as well as in higher education (Black et al 2002). This is also the case in physical education teacher education (PETE) (Eather et al 2017, Macken et al 2020) and in school physical education (Leirhaug 2016). One of the key learning strategies in AfL is to activate peers as resources for learning, often operationalised as peer assessment. In PETE, peer assessment (or peer-assisted learning in a broader meaning) has proven to strengthen learning for both the observer and the observed (Lamb et al 2012).

One dimension of peer assessment, that has only scarcely been covered in the PETE context (Macken et al 2020) but that is more highlighted in research of peer assessment in general teacher education (see e.g. Kilic 2016, Tait-McCutcheon & Bernadette Knewstubb 2018), is the tensions inherent in giving feedback to peers on their work, peers who might also often be friends. According to Kilic (2016, 137) preservice teachers “do not feel comfortable when critiquing another student” and Tait-McCutcheon and Knewstubb (2018, 773) argues that “peer assessment could reflect friendships more than learning outcomes”.

Research demonstrates a complexity with regards to the potential for peer assessment in PETE. On the one hand, preservice teachers have expressed that giving feedback to peers creates a positive, safe, equal and relaxed learning environment (Lamb et al., 2012) and peer assessment has been reported to improve competence, confidence and self-efficacy among preservice teachers (Eather et al., 2017). On the other hand, a study by Macken et al. (2020) reported that preservice teachers believe their students would be mean to each other if implementing peer assessment during their school placement practice in PETE.

In this paper, we aim to further explore the complexity involved in peer assessment in PETE to get a deepened and more differentiated picture of this phenomenon. Our overall aim is to contribute to more knowledge about how to involve preservice teachers in PETE and students in school physical education as resources for learning without risking to cause harm. Drawing on the call from Scanlon et al. (2022) for more studies on how assessment is taught in PETE, our specific aim in this paper is to investigate preservice teachers’ views on what as well as how peer assessment is taught in PETE, to be used in school physical education. We will use Pierre Bourdieu’s (1990) concept of capital, as well as the work of Hay and Penney (2013) on how accountability mechanisms functions in assessment, in order to analyse what is assigned value in peer assessment. The two questions that will guide our analysis in this paper reads: What mechanisms are assigned value in peer assessment according to preservice teachers in PETE? And: How do the mechanisms that are assigned value in peer assessment in PETE function according to preservice teachers? More knowledge about the what and the how in teaching of assessment practices in PETE can improve these practices within school physical education.

Our society is influencing schools and education in different ways and the school subject physical education is no exception (Welch et al., 2021). In the past decades has environmental sustainability appeared as an important part that influences most sectors in our society. Environmental sustainability is nothing new to education, environmental education builds on work and thoughts from known philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Dewey, and Maria Montessori, who have integrated environmental issues with school and education. More lately have organization’s such as UN´s and UNESCO contributed to made environmental sustainability obligatory in schools within European Union (Faville et al., 2014). How physical education is progressing towards environmental sustainability and what curriculums in physical education that include environmental sustainability might look like, have only started to be investigated (Dingle & Mallen, 2021). There is a lack of research with regards to environmental sustainability in pedagogy, especially within the school subject physical education and physical education teacher education (PETE) (Taylor et al., 2016, 2019; Welch et al., 2021; Dingle & Mallen, 2020).

Environmental sustainability is often included in general school curriculums and in the overarching educational statements for many different school subjects. However, this is rarely expressed in the curriculum for the subject of physical education. Based on a study of the Swedish educational context, therefore, we have investigated the impact formulations regarding environmental sustainability in general school curriculums can have for the implementation of teaching practice in physical education. More specifically, the purpose was to analyse the relationship between the representation of environmental sustainability in Swedish school policy documents and Swedish physical education teachers’ perceptions of the relevance of implementing environmental sustainability in a physical education context.

Data taken from a questionnaire conducted with 143 Swedish physical education teachers has been analysed. The quantitative and qualitative analysis we carried out on this data followed a version of a mixed method approach called the explanatory sequential approach (Creswell, 2003). And by using Bernstein’s (2000) concept of classification, the data was discussed in relation to how environmental sustainability is formulated and included in the Swedish school system, particularly in the physical education context. This will enable us to contribute to the discussion of how physical education teachers enact the requirements of governing school documents concerning environmental sustainability.

The result of this study shows that environmental sustainability has the potential to gain a stronger classification in physical education in the future. Of the different educational stakeholders who are involved in the process of reproducing knowledge in one way or another (Bertram, 2020), such as physical education teachers, policy writers, textbook writers, teacher educators, producers of research, and politicians, some have more power and interpretive precedence than others and are therefore more able to influence what environmental sustainability becomes when it is enacted in physical education.

Can we expect environmental sustainability to be taught in physical education if it does not exist in the students' PETE studies? Research shows that teacher education in environmental sustainability is often given in general courses or in independent courses without a direct connection to physical education (Isgren Karlsson & Backman, in press). PETE can therefore be seen as gatekeepers for what is being done and what should be done in physical education.

There is a growing internationally research interest in how Physical education (PE) and PE teacher education (PETE) may contribute to Education for Sustainability (EfSD), and the vision set out by the 2030 agenda and the SDGs (Fröberg & Lundvall, 2022; UN, 2015). In teacher education, EfSD is generally embedded as a component of a compulsory subject, or as an essential part of school policies, practices and activities (Stevenson et al., 2017). As positioned at the heart of the micro-level in education as those being responsible for educating future generations to address the global challenges that humanity is facing, teachers play a critical role to deliver EfSD (Boeren, 2019). If any changes are to take place in school, teacher education is one critical point of departure as it can contribute to the development of critical knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Abilities are needed for teachers to become active change agents. Recently, researchers suggested that PE may contribute to the 2030 agenda and some SDGs, such as “Good health and well-being”, “Quality education”, “Gender equality”, “Reduced inequalities”, and “Climate action” (Baena-Morales & González-Víllora, 2022; Lohmann et al., 2021).

If EfSD and orientation towards the 2030 agenda and the SDGs are to be realized, more attention should be given to professional development in PETE and especially what PE teacher training educators (PET-ed) perceive to be critical aspects. Professional development is one way of preparing PET-ed to encounter and embrace curriculum changes of different kinds (Lambert & Penney, 2020). A systematic professional development may allow for a re-thinking and re-orientation of courses within PETE in terms of how to understand what possibilities in theory and practice that a perspective of sustainability may offer. Even though it has been suggested that some of the contents of PE are related to sustainable development (SD), one critical question is that of prioritizing teaching and learning of content and challenge the way it is taught. More research is, however, needed, especially with focus on PETE.

The overall aim of this participatory action research (PAR) study is to explore what PET-ed perceive to be critical aspects on EfSD in PE and PETE. The specific research questions are:

•How do PETE educators perceive and conceptualize sustainability and how PE and PETE relate to, and impact on, the SDGs , and what arguments and support are put forward in relation to this?

•What aspects on EfSD do PETE educators perceive to be critical to implement in PETE courses, and what arguments and support are put forward in relation to this?

•What lessons can be drawn from using a PAR study to initiate discussions about processes of change and an implementation of EfSD in PETE courses?

SD involves several ontological and epistemological layers, such as what is to be sustained, how, for whom, and by whom, when and where? Challenges related to SD may be fluid and uncertain, and social constructivism is needed to capture the complexity of the phenomenon (Kalsoom, 2019). Therefore, this PAR study draw on the principles of collaborative learning (CL) representing a broad, integrated approach to facilitate group learning, and relates to social constructivism, assuming that knowledge is produced in social contexts. Furthermore we are inspired by pragmatism and transformative pedagogy as one way of analyzing and understanding transactions, meaning making and learning.

CL is positively related to engagement and personal development and may involve positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, group processing, and social skills (Barkley, 2014; Bjørke et al., 2022). This will allow for the PET-ed to increase their knowledge, and share their experiences related to EfSD as a way of deepening their understanding and capability.

The global challenges that humanity faces including inequality and climate change, is the point of departure in the sustainable development (SD) agenda. Perhaps the most broad and ambitious action plan for SD is the 2030 agenda that comprises 17 intertwined SD goals (SDGs). These goals cover social, economic, and environmental dimensions of SD.

Education has the potential to empower people with SD competences to make responsible decisions in pursuit of a just society in the present and future generations, and to realise the 2030 agenda. School physical education and health (PEH) may not only be an important cornerstone to the holistic development of students but may also contribute to the SD agenda. Even though scholars such as Lake et al. (1) discussed issues around sustainability already at the beginning of the 2000s, this perspective has received limited attention in research about PEH.

Recently, however, there has been a growing interest in exploring links between PEH and the SD agenda, including links to the 2030 agenda and the SD goals. This may be important because the unique subject characteristics of PEH, such as movement education and health, can have distinct contributions to the SD agenda. In Sweden, PEH cover areas such as movement, health and lifestyle, and outdoor life and activities (outdoor visits). The core content includes movement activities, both indoors and outdoors, different aspects of health and training methods, and safety and consideration in connection with various activities. Although there are no explicit statements related to SD in the PEH syllabi (2), the Swedish National Agency for Education’s (SNAE) curriculum for the compulsory school include some explicit statements related to SD that is common to the school in general and all subjects. For example, “teaching should illuminate how the functions of society and our ways of living and working can best be adapted to create sustainable development” (p. 8) (3).

Some research to date suggests that PEH may already be implementing content to promote SD competences without making explicit references to the SD agenda (4, 5). In relation to the 2030 agenda and the SDGs, however, relatively little is currently known about the distinct role of PEH, and how SD can be understood, framed and integrated in PEH (6). Although not all may be relevant, targets from several SDGs could be addressed through PEH, including good health and well-being, gender equality, and reduced inequalities, together representing social, economic, and environmental dimensions of SD (4, 7, 8). Importantly, rather than additions of content to an already overcrowded curriculum, SD perspectives in the field of PEH should be interpreted as an overarching teaching approach and tie to core areas of the subject, such as physical activity, movement education, and health and well-being (4, 5). This may, however, necessitate novel teaching approaches, and professional development education (4).

Although PEH may have unique characteristics that can contribute to the SD agenda, most research to date has been theoretical and we lack empirical studies with focus on PEH teachers. Little is therefore currently known about SD from the perspectives of PEH teachers and students. The present study adds to the literature by exploring SD competencies among certified PEH teachers in Sweden.

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Research that looks at practices of discrimination that produce inequalities in Physical Education (PE) has seemingly led to little sustainable change. PE teachers continue to struggle with social inclusion, and in particular, with contradictory discourses about gender, health, ability, ethnicity, religion, and sexuality. In this paper we argue for a shift in focus that expands understandings of these complex issues. Instead of focusing on the practices that (re)produce discrimination, research needs to ask other questions based on the ubiquity of discriminatory practices in the PE context. Discriminatory practices occur via mechanisms that need to be understood if change is to occur. To understand possibilities for change, this research focuses on discriminatory mechanisms and explores how the educational context of PE may contribute to this.

1. What is the role of discriminatory mechanisms and conditions in the persistence of inequalities in PE?

Inclusion studies in education and other domains often frame the notion of practices of inclusion as the answer to the ensuring of equitable outcomes for all (e.g., Adamson et al. 2021; Penney et al., 2018) and of it being a moral obligation to soften the current increase in social inequalities and precarity (Tyler, 2019). The term inclusion seems to have replaced an emphasis on notions of discrimination (Adamson, et al. 2021). How conditions of life are described or captured by words matter, however (Butler, 2021). Doing inclusion is presumed to be a good and positive concept (Adamson et al., 2021; Butler, 2021); consequently, inclusion has become an important project in education, while persistent social inequalities remain unchallenged (Van Doodewaard, 2022). We argue that research needs to explore these constructs of inclusion and how their use may contribute to a culture that implicitly condones discriminatory practices using denial and inaction. Various studies also suggest some teachers engage in discriminatory practices by drawing on hegemonic sport, health and citizenship discourses and/or on managerial professionalism discourses to resist change (Sachs, 2016). More needs to be known about the reasons for doing so.

2. Is the PE context a unique field?

PE is a unique field in education, as it is one of the few subjects that centers on public bodily performances (Aartun et al, 2022). Its uniqueness is also based on its close ties with the sport context. Sport participation is shaped along formal hierarchical binaries based on gender and ableism that, for instance, tend to value men and men’s sport more than women and women’s sport (Metcalfe, 2018), and abled sport and abled athletes, more than para sport and differently abled athletes (Grenier & Giese, 2022). Little is known about how these connections between school and societal practices sustain or shape discriminatory mechanisms in PE. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to explore how hierarchical binaries in sport and in education may infiltrate and shape discriminatory dynamics of PE.

We subsequently, briefly discuss several possibilities as well as their limitations for dismantling discriminatory mechanisms through transformative practices (Biesta (2019), Lynch et al., 2022; Quennerstedt, 2019). These possibilities include disrupting the use of critical performativity (Blackshear, 2022; Grenier & Giese, 2022) and the use of third space (Forgasz, et al. Soja, 2009).

An increased concern for children and young people's lack of physical activity (PA) worldwide has made societies take measures in order to counteract the development. The education system, schools and especially the school subject physical education (PE) have in many countries been identified as an arena for improving physical activity among children and youth. This is the case also in Sweden. In 2003 the Swedish government introduced and added guidelines concerning "daily physical activity" (DPA) in the national curriculum for compulsory schools. This means that the school should offer PA during the school day in addition to the subject PE(H) for all students between ages 6 and 16 (1).

Research on PA has mainly focused on interventions among children in elementary school (2) and the effects on PA in relation to gender, body mass index (BMI), socioeconomic status, psychological well-being, time spent in relation to screen (see e.g.2-4). To date, less attention has been paid to students with disability or in need of special education. Even if there are some studies concerning BMI, inactivity and their need of physical activity, few studies address how schools approaches the possibilities to be physical active during the school day. Offering students daily PA seems to be a hard nut to crack for schools, especially at secondary level. Also, less attention on PA in schools have been paid to students with invisible’ disabilities such as students with diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD), like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (see e.g.5-6).

In addition, research shows that children with NDD less often participate in sports and physical activity during their free time. Moreover, research shows that participation in organizes physical activities can lead to more participation in other everyday life contexts for these students (7). Based on insights from scholars about inclusion and school development grounded on a learning organisational perspective, the overall aim of this study is to increase the understanding of opportunities and challenges of the school’s task to organize “daily physical activity” in a school with students with NDD. The research questions are: What characterize the needs of the students concerning PA during the school day? What facilitators and barriers are there according to staff and students for PA during the school day? The analysis and results will be discussed from a school perspective, how PA can be made possible for students with special needs.

To achieve the purpose of this project employs a qualitative methodology based on interviews, observations and fieldnotes. The choice of design is related to a view of knowledge as constructed and subjectively experienced (8). This means that through interviews, observations and fieldnotes researchers will provide detailed descriptions of people, behaviours, and cultures in their ordinary environment. With a sociocultural perspective, the individual and the environment are understood as mutually constructed (9). Both students and staff act consciously or unconsciously based on the experiences they have of what is needed in different situations (9).

Conditions for the students to be physically active and being involved and included are created by the school staff in the context in which the students and staff cooperate (9). To listen to the experiences of the students and staff means not only to get a view of formal decisions but also in informal everyday lives (9). The sociocultural perspective where human actions are in focus for understanding of organisational opportunities and challenges to be physically active is an important part in this study.

The affective domain has received increasing attention in education and educational research due to the reported growing prevalence of mental health issues among young people. In the physical education context, the self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan and Deci, 2017) outlined optimal teaching styles to promote students’ motivation and psychological well-being and facilitated views representative of mental health. This study aimed to explore characteristics of physical education teachers associated with optimal teaching styles for affective learning.

The SDT argues that people have three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Support of these needs is required to foster positive learning processes, such as motivation and psychological well-being. Previous studies have demonstrated that need-supportive styles, including autonomy-support and structure, in physical education satisfy the three psychological needs, leading to affective learning outcomes, whereas need-thwarting styles, including control and chaos, produce less desirable outcomes (Behzadnia et al., 2018; Haerens et al., 2015).

Recent research has shifted to focus on antecedents to investigate why teachers adopt need-supportive and need-thwarting styles. Antecedents of teaching styles have been examined in relation to teachers’ perceived pressures from above, below, and within. A recent study revealed that teachers are likely to adopt need-supportive styles when perceived pressures from below and within are reduced, whereas need-thwarting styles could be predicted by the prevalence of pressures from above and within (Escriva-Boulley, Haerens, et al., 2021). Therefore, the adoption of teaching styles could be closely associated with the degree of perceived pressures from within, such as teachers’ own beliefs, values, and personal dispositions (Reeve, 2009).

The Causality Orientation Theory, which is a sub-theory of the SDT, identifies antecedents that influence teaching styles, including three causality dimensions: autonomy, control, and impersonal orientations (Ryan and Deci, 2017). Autonomy orientation refers to individuals focusing on events and perceiving the environment as a source of information, considering their own needs, interests, and values. Control orientation reflects the tendency to be controlled by external events, such as rewards, deadlines, and punishments. Impersonal orientation indicates the tendency to interpret actions as beyond one’s intentional control and not understand the reasons behind one’s actions. As such, we hypothesised that teachers with an autonomy orientation would employ need-supportive styles and rely less on need-thwarting styles, whereas teachers with control and impersonal orientations would adopt need-thwarting styles and utilise need-supportive styles less.

Studies examining the influence of causality orientation on need-supportive and need-thwarting styles are scarce, and the few extant studies have not attempted to examine this relationship among secondary schools’ physical education teachers. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the role of causality orientations in adopting need-supportive and need-thwarting styles in physical education.

The rapid growth of knowledge and its significant impact on professional and personal life is a fundamental condition for education to be one of the most powerful drivers for countries to achieve future prosperity. Teachers are the creators of our next generation, their beliefs and values play a leading role in the development and implementation of the curriculum, and their values also determine how they will teach.

Professional socialization is a nonlinear, continuous, interactive, transformative, developmental, personal, psychosocial and self-reinforcing process, which is formed in newcomers through internalizing the specific culture of a professional community, including expectations, values, beliefs, customs, traditions, and unwritten rules of the profession, as well as understanding the hierarchy and power structure, and the responsibilities. The initial and main outcomes of this professional socialization are the formation of professional identity and professional development (Sadeghi Avval Shahr, Yazdani, & Afshar, 2019). This research will focus on the personal aspect of teachers’ professional identity (Chere-Masopha, 2018), studying the beliefs of future physical education teachers and physical education teachers.

Jewett, Bain and Ennis (1995) determined five structured set of value orientations by investigating educational values of both physical education teachers and future physical education teachers: Disciplinary mastery (DM) – acquisition of specific motor skills. Learning process (LP), where the teacher acquires processes and specific skills required for good performance, learning independently, problem solving skills. Self-actualization (SA), where physical education (PE) teacher realizes their personal goals, values, and confidence for self-growth, nurturing personal growth, personal autonomy. Social responsibility (SR) – (formerly known as social reconstruction), perceives the class as a micro-society that pursues such goals as cooperation and group work while respecting each another, places high priority on societal needs and social change. Ecological integration (EI) – PE teachers respect the balance between the social dimension, the student, and the knowledge of the subject, emphasise on personal search for meaning by integrating natural and social environment. The value orientations inventory has been translated into different languages for studies in non-English speaking countries such as in French speaking Canada, Chinese, Flemish and Taiwanese.

In ECER2022 the authors presented the results of their research exploring the psychometric indicators of the Latvian version of the Questionnaire on Teachers’ Value Orientations in Physical Education (VOI- Short Form) for the future physical education teachers (Fernate & Vazne, 2022). In ECER2023 the authors aim is to present the results of the analysis of the psychometric indicators of the Latvian version of the Questionnaire on Teachers’ Value Orientations in Physical Education (VOI- Short Form) for the future physical education teachers and physical education teachers.

The aim of this research is to assess the psychometric indicators of the Latvian version of the Questionnaire on Teachers’ Value Orientations in Physical Education (VOI- Short Form) for the Future Physical Education Teachers and Physical Education Teachers.

The research question:

Will the psychometric indicators of the Latvian version of the short 50-statement 10-value orientations, statements characterizing the directions of future physical education teachers’ and physical education teachers’ value orientations, be in accordance with the psychometric indicators of the original version of the 50-statement Questionnaire on Teachers’ Value Orientations in Physical Education (Chen et al., 1997)?